V-^' .^^"- * "ti, vol^» •«? "^ •©Bs* 4* ■%& viols'* •«.* •< 5- "* • c^ *. • U ^ •'•^ • ji^Mwk,*^ O ^.^^b-* * ••• aV ./..t-i^'A • %0 « * ^ /^V/k'o ^<^. c4?^ /- '-^^^♦^ ^r^JkNJl^'- ^^u^c,^" **'\ ^i» ^•i^ d>«b V .\ 45 °^ vi.** J>' A, 'O' " ■ " V o . » • .0^ \S> . • j4;jOThi»,*- O >0 Hq ' ^<>.*^^\/ ^q^*^-*/ ^^^*T:^\y •• .^"^^ "o^ *'T7r*- A -^^ ^ np Declaration of Principles ADOPTED BY THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY, JANUARY 20, 1870. The prevalence of the sentiment that, with the extinction of slavery in our country, the useful service of Colonization Societies has ceased, and that the}?" are not in sympathy with the colored people and their rights as American citizens, de- mand a declaration on the part of such Societies that may tend to correct an erroneous impression, and to increase their use- fulness : "VVe, the American Colonization Society, do therefore now declare, that the wonderful' Providential deliverance of about four millions of colored persons from the thraldom of slavery, has in no wise diminished the field of our operation or abated the motive and incentive of our action ; That, in the fact of the freedom of choice and opportunity given to so many more to return to the land of their forefathers, wc see the prospect that many more will be willing to seek a -hom.o where thc}^ and their children will be beyond the reach of a disparaging social prejudice from a distinction of color, and lied scope for the highest social development; That we sincerely rejoice in the great event which has resulted in recognizing the people of the colored race as cit- izens of the United States; which gives them a perfect right to make this country their permanent abode; That we yet believe that many, in the exercise of a perfect freedom of choice, will desire to settle in Africa, and will gladly embrace opportunities of emigration thither, feeling that they will have there free scope and greater consideration, exempt from an unjust social prejudice, with a more perfect develop- ment of their enterprise, their understandings, and their man- hood ; and will also there participate in our great purposes of colonizing Africa: nanlely, for the welfare and happiness of the people of Liberia, the suppression of slave-trading on the Coast and in the interior of Africa, and the extension there of Christian civilization ; That they, the descendants of Africans, will feel and appre- ciate the duty to be mainly theirs of becoming the actual settlers on the Coasts of Africa, since there they can find a genial climate ; that her heathen darkness can only be penetrated by 2 Declaration of Principles. them, and by .them mainly "Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands to God;" that they alone, and are yet, to execute this prophecy; That, nevertheless, we hold that the white race of our country are under the deepest obligation to justice, to Chris- tianity, and to God, to aid in this work of the civilization of Africa, which can best be done by returning those willing to go to their fatherland, to carry with them the Gospel faith and truths; to plant in Africa Christianity, with Christian education and Christian civilization; to become there the practical missionaries of love to man and love to God; to redeem a continent from the dai'kest superstition to the light of the Gospel of Christ, than which no higher object can engage the attention, or employ the means of a Christian world. God is no respecter of persons, and all souls are alike precious to Him. Uncounted millions die there in each gen- eration, without ever having heard of Him "who hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel." " God, our Saviour, will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the Truth." That, in view of the manifold and great benefits, moral, social, and political, which may, by God's blessing, be cx- pected'to flow to the African race, both in this country and in Africa, from the vigorous and successful prosecution of the work of the American Colonization Society; in view of the blessed influence which will be exerted upon the welfare of the tribes of Africa, through the prospcritj^ of the Christian nation of Liberia, by the moral and intellectual elevation of her citizens, by the increase and improvement and strengthen- ing of her schools and colleges and churches; and also in view of the fact that the work of the Society has been and is neces- sary and admirably adapted to prepare the way for, and to farther the civilization and Christianization of, that vast con- tinent — so long shrouded in gloom — the American Colonization Society, at this important period of' its history, earnestly renews its appeal to.the Christian Philanthropists of this nation to extend to this great work of Christian benevolence their countenance and influence, to give liberal contributions to its Treasury, and to make unceasing prayer to the God and Father of all, for His blessing upon this and every proper eflbrt for the regeneration of Afi'ica. Declaration of Principles. SENTIMENTS OF A LIBERIAN. The Eev. Edward W. Blyden, born at St. Thomas, West Indies, in 1832, of parents entirely connected with the African race, and for the last twenty years a resident and citizen of the Republic of Liberia, and now Fulton Professor in the Col- lege at Monrovia, thus discourses, in a late elaborate commu- nication in one of the leading American Quarterlies: "It is difficult to understand how, with the history of the past accessible, the facts of the present before their ej^es, and the prospoct of a clouded future, or unvailed only to disclose the indefinite numerical increase of Europeans in the land, the blacks of the United Statas can hope for any distinct, appreci- able influence in the country. We cannot perceive on what grounds the most sanguine among their friends can suppose that there will be so decisive a revolution of popular feeling in favor of their proteges as to make them at once the jjolitical and social equals of their former masters. Legislation cannot secure them this equality in the United States any more than it has secured it for the blacks in the West Indies. During the time of slavery, everything in the laws, in the customs, in the education of the people was contrived with the single view of ^degrading the negro in his own estimation ajid thai of others. Now, is it possible to change in a day the habits and character which centuries of oppression have entailed? We think not. More than one generation, it apjDears to us, must pass away before the full effects of education, enlightenment, and social impi'ovement will be visible among the blacks. Meanwhile they are being gradually absorbed by the Caucasian ; and before their social equality comes to be conceded they will have lost their identity altogether, a result, in our opinion, extremely undesirable, as we believe that, as negroes, they might accomp- lish a great work which others cannot perform. Eut even if they should not pass away in the mighty embrace of their numerous white neighbors; grant that. they could continue to live in the land, a distinct people, with the marked peculiarities they pos- sess, having the same color and hair, badges of a former thral- dom — is it to be supposed that thej can ever overtake a people who so largely outnumber them, and a large proportion of whoin are endowed with wealth, leisure, and the habits and means of study and self-improvement? If they improve in 4 Declaration of Principles. culture and training, as in time they no doubt will, and become inlelligcnt and educated, thei'e may rise up individuals among them, here and there, who will be respected and honored by the whites; but it is plain that, as a class, their inferiority will never cease until they cease to be a distinct people, possessing peculiarities which suggest antecedents of servility and deg- radation. "We pen these lines with the most solemn feelings — grieved that so many strong, intelligent, and energetic black men should be wasting time and labor in a fruitless contest, which, expended in the primitive land of their fathers — a land that so much needs them — would produce in a comparatively short time results of incalculable importance. But what can we'do? Occupying this distant stand-point — an area of negro freedom, and a scene for untrammeled growth and development, but a wide and ever-expanding field for benevolent effort; an outly- ing or surrounding wilderness to be reclaimed; barbarism, of ages to be brought over to Christian life — we can only repeat with undiminished earnestness the wish we have frequently expressed elsewhere, that the eyes of the blacks m ly he opened to discern their true mission and destiny; that, making their escape from the house of bondage, they may betake themselves to their ancestral home, and assist in constructing a Christian Afri- can EMPIRE." VOLUNTARY TESTIMONY. A young man of unusual intelligence, means, and enterprise, who removed with his wife and two children, from Columbus, Georgia, thus addressed his father, after nearly a twelvemonths' residence and experience: "Liberia is a good country. It needs population ; and, with population, intelligence, wealth, and Christianity. With these it would be second to no country upon the globe. So far as I am concerned it suits me. Of course thei-e are no large and fine cities with ever}' convenience as in the United StatCs ; no rea- sonable person will expect to see such ; but you will be in a free country, one of your own, and one that debars hone of its citizens from all the rights and privileges of a freeman. You Avill be upon free soil, and y(i\i will breathe free air, with no one to make you afraid, which is not the case in America." PuBLiSHKD BY xnii: Amkkicax Colonization Society. '^'^UvC,^" %^^^ : /"V. '.• .^"X «^^^ .o»« A.^-:\ • A-^-' .^^ > x?^ O. ♦Tr.** .0-' •^rfSsts.fc,*- o ^^*'"'*' .<* .. . -r^ •*i** ^0 ^^4.^ ^iBa^>«*. ''^.r.'^ Si'O' ^^ .^i:^* ^^> ^' « * o. ^0^ '^o •* .C? ^^-^^^ TvT* <^ &^V.^'^ ^o9 BOOKBINDING CraniMlle 9i March April 198?